I have tried various permutations of prefs.js thus:-1) original with "wrong" profile name2) original with lines removed as per your suggestion3) original with "wrong" profile replaced with current profile name

Apparently at random, each of these will work i.e. not produce the error. I then restart TB and the error returns. Try again, and it doesn't happen.

I have a similar message, which occurs whenever I click on an item in account settings. (curtusey of tb24.0 update) (running on winxp sp3). For many months I have my accounts in c:\data\emailaccounts\ under subdirectory mail is the pop3 accounts directories, and under imapmail is the imap accounts directories.before that, I used to have the profile on a network mapped drive ( s:\common\email ). now I get this annoying message

the Local Directory path "c:\data\emailaccounts\mail\pop.mydomain.com" is not suitable for message storage. Please choose another directory

(domain changed for security)

I have also noticed a "c:\windows\application data\Thunderbird\Profiles\6n3tudd6.default\Mail" directory has been created, containing 9 directories, 8 of which are email account directories, and one of which is called "smart mailboxes". Why this has been created, and in that location is a mystery, as is why thunderbird has suddenly taken a dislike to the previous message locations. I have about 12 different accounts, and presume that deleting the prefs.js file (in c:\data\emailaccounts\ ) would erase them, and I would have to add them all again, including setting up the locations. I'm not sure how this would effect the "Local Folders" folder which is the special case one, and the default for my main account. It is a bit concerning (well a lot) that all my emails are "threatened" by this change.bearing in mind that all the directories existed prior to the tb update, does anyone have any suggestions. (if I should post this as a separate thread let me know, it is just the subject will be identical).

from reading the bugs involved i noticed that sometimes the problem is caused by old entries in the prefs.js file. things that refer to old locations that may not be reachable now. one example had both a "local folders" and a "local folders-2" in the prefs file.

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timsoft wrote:I have a similar message, which occurs whenever I click on an item in account settings. (curtusey of tb24.0 update)

For many months I have my accounts in c:\data\emailaccounts\ under subdirectory mail is the pop3 accounts directories, and under imapmail is the imap accounts directories.before that, I used to have the profile on a network mapped drive ( s:\common\email ). now I get this annoying message the Local Directory path "c:\data\emailaccounts\mail\pop.mydomain.com" is not suitable for message storage. Please choose another directory

Do you have the message when you click on any item in the account settings or when you go to the server settings to modify the path to the local directory of message storage?

I have also noticed a "c:\windows\application data\Thunderbird\Profiles\6n3tudd6.default\Mail" directory has been created, containing 9 directories, 8 of which are email account directories, and one of which is called "smart mailboxes". Why this has been created, and in that location is a mystery, as is why thunderbird has suddenly taken a dislike to the previous message locations.

By default Thunderbird on Windows creates profiles in this directoryC:\Documents and Settings\<Windows user name>\Application Data\Thunderbird\Profiles\<Profile name> The pop*** account folders and "Local Folders" by default are created in a profile sub-folder called "Mail", the smart mailboxes are used when you choose a "Global Inbox" for pop accounts.The imap*** account folders by default are created in a profile sub-folder called "ImapMail".For some unknown reason you have messed your TB profile by modifying the path to the default local directory of message storage in order to use a directory of your choice, instead of moving the entire profile.This can be done in certain cases by expert TB users, but in general splitting of the profile will be the cause of future trouble.

I have about 12 different accounts, and presume that deleting the prefs.js file (in c:\data\emailaccounts\ ) would erase them, and I would have to add them all again, including setting up the locations. I'm not sure how this would effect the "Local Folders" folder which is the special case one, and the default for my main account. It is a bit concerning (well a lot) that all my emails are "threatened" by this change.

Actually your emails are not threatened by the error message if you don't make untimely changes in your settings.Do not delete your prefs.js file since this would erase all your accounts and all settings, even if it would not erase your account folders and message files or address books. BTW, c:\data\emailaccounts\ also is a very unusual registry for the pref.js file.I'd move it back (TB exited) to the profile folder \Application Data\Thunderbird\Profiles\<Profile name>

bearing in mind that all the directories existed prior to the tb update, does anyone have any suggestions.

It's very difficult to make suggestions in a case like yours without viewing your screen or having a precise idea of the locations of the different parts of your profile(s)What you can try right now: first make a backup copy of your prefs.js file!Quit TB and edit your prefs.js file.Search for the "mail.root....." prefs and verify if any paths are obsolete, e.g pointing to a no longer existing profile.If there are any, you can delete the line(s), then restart TB, go to Server Settings and verify if you still get the error message.

the point raised by Eckard about pointing the mail store to a location outside of the profile is ... not really accurate, in my opinion.

i've been using D:\data\email\thunderbird\[custom-account-name] folder the the mail store locations of each of my accounts for years and it has not caused any problems.

i wonder if this ...

"c:\data\emailaccounts\mail\pop.mydomain.com"

... may be triggering the problem. NOT because it's outside the profile, but because it's using the _actual_ internal tbird name of an account. note that i am expressing an "i wonder" and i'm not at all certain of the actual cause. [*sigh ...*]

Lee_Dailey wrote:the point raised by Eckard about pointing the mail store to a location outside of the profile is ... not really accurate, in my opinion.

Hi Lee,that's not what I've been saying, there is a misunderstanding. Maybe my writing was a bit confusing since I underlined the potential risk of mail store "de-localisation" for lesser experienced TB users. At least twice a week I'm reading threads from users having damaged their profile this way or getting into trouble when they want to migrate the profile.

It's not the fact that someone may have set, in a previous TB version, the path to a mail store outside the profile folder which triggers the error message since TB 24.All users in the German TB forum having these error messages after the TB 24 update found obsolete "mail.root..." paths in their prefs.js files, paths which pointed to no longer existing directories, probably remainders from an older profile or message storage directories deleted some time ago. And all but one were using the default message storage directory in their actual profile folder!!All of them could solve the problem by deleting the obsolete "mail.root..." lines in the prefs.js file!

So it seems that the simple presence in the prefs.js file of these "no longer used" and invalid paths is sufficient to trigger the message when a user tries to change the Server Settings.Also see aceman's comment #35 https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=921371#c35 :"I propose getting this into TB24 quickly as it may affect many users who have mail.root.* prefs set to a nonexisting folder (e.g. due to profile migration, OS upgrade (Win XP -> Win Vista+), etc.)".

On the other hand, TB 24 seems to have a sort of blacklist of unauthorized message store directories.To provoke the message I tried to change the path by choosing the profile folder itself or the "Mail" folder as the local directory: after clicking OK I got the error message

Quote Eckard"Also see aceman's comment #35 https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=921371#c35 :"I propose getting this into TB24 quickly as it may affect many users who have mail.root.* prefs set to a nonexisting folder (e.g. due to profile migration, OS upgrade (Win XP -> Win Vista+), etc.)".

I am pretty sure that my problems arose from migration of my mail profile from an XP machine to a Win 7 system. Although the whole thing has worked quite happily since Spring 2011, through many upgrades of Thunderbird, and addition of IMAP mail accounts, something in 24.0 has given rise to the problem.

Editing out the offending lines, as per Eckard's advice, seems to have fixed the problem for me.________________________

Update as of 4th October 2013

OH NO IT HASN'T!

Start up TB today, out of interest go to check the Accounts settings still working OK - bang! - error message back again. Prefs.js has not changed in the mail.root section (i.e. old folder line out). In other words, this seems to work or fail apparently at random, for reasons which don't seem clear.

Next step is to compare yesterday's daily TB backup prefs.js with the current one.

Last edited by FoxyFanny on October 4th, 2013, 2:42 am, edited 1 time in total.

to feed back, to lee and eckard, I removed all the mail.root entries (they pointed to historic profiles on the s: drive ). now, I avoid the error message until I click on one of the profiles which is located in c:\windows\application data\thunderbird\profiles\blahblah.default\mail\accountnameOnce one of those profiles has been clicked on, you cannot click on any other profiles, they all give the same error message relating to one account location.I have no idea why the directories were created in c:\windows\application data\... as I am aware that that would have only been used with win98, not winXP or higher. At least one of the account names in mail under the c:\windows\ location is the same as one under imapmail in the c:\data\emailaccounts\ folder.To recap, all file locations pointed to in prefs.js now exist, but I still get the problem once an account located in c:\windows\application data\thunderbird\profiles\blahblah.default\mail\accountname is clicked on, (in account settings), and there-after I get the same message regardless of which account I click on.

for reference, the accounts were originally moved (months ago) by physically moving the directories from c:\documents and settings\me\thunderbird\profiles\... to c:\data\emailaccounts\.. and then editing the profiles.ini file in c:\documents and settings\me\thunderbird\profiles\ by making IsRelative=0 and Path=c:\data\emailaccountsthe prefs.js was not touched for those moves. This change worked for previous versions of thunderbird, going back to version 2.xxthanks for the quick responses.

update.I removed all references in prefs.js to the accounts (server entries) who's files were in the c:\windows\application data\thunderbird\mail\ folder, and then I removed c:\windows\application data\thunderbird\ folder and all folders. The error message has now gone away. Thanks for the pointers, guys.Hopefully thunderbird can handle these particular peculiarities in a more user friendly method in future updates.

I have compared the current and backup prefs.js files, and nothing significant is different.

If I understand right, I think I'm getting a similar result to "timsoft", but in a Win 7 environment (profile folder naming convention thus - "C:\Users\Fred\AppData\Roaming\Thunderbird\Profiles\abcdefgh.default").

Steps:-1) Open Account Settings.2) I can click on every one of my individual mail accounts (POP and IMAP), and access/change settings on each.3) I can move down to "Local Folders" and the main entry (Empty Trash on Exit and Browse for Local Folder) is accessible i.e. I can browse to the LocalFolder Mail folder in my .default profile folder.4) I cannot move to Junk Settings and Disk Space under "Local Folders" as selecting either immediately produces the error message.5) ALSO, having once selected Local Folders, scrolling back up and selecting ANY of the Mail accounts and their sub-options (Server Settings, Copies and Folders etc.) IMMEDIATELY returns the error message.6) IF the Account Settings window opens with "Local Folders" highlighted, then clicking anywhere in it will immediately produce the error. It is essential to open with Local Folders not highlighted (focussed). The way to do this is, in the normal mail window, (and with Account Settings closed), to highlight a left-hand pane mailbox name NOT called Local Folders (in my case IMAP GMAIL), where the right hand mail window then displays the "Email", "Account" and "Advanced Settings" fields. When then opening Account Settings, it opens to the highlighted mailbox account entry (rather than Local Folders), and changes to the individual accounts can be made.

If, however, I start in Safe Mode, I can then access RANDOMLY ( i.e. works once, then second Safe restart it fails-returns error) the Junk Settings and Disk Space Local Folders settings. Where accessing these works OK, I still get the error when moving back to named email account entries, as in Normal mode described above.

I have searched prefs.js for the Local Folders folder, called "LocalFolder Mail", and it occurs only twice, in these consecutive lines:-

a) I CANNOT access Local Folders Junk and Disk Space settings in Normal mode, and only randomly in Safe Modeb) Any access to Local Folder will then prevent access to Email account entries above it in the setting window, producing the identical error messagec) BUT, I CAN access and change email account entries BEFORE I go anywhere near the Local Folder setting, PROVIDED THAT Account Settings does NOT open to focus Local Folders entry

I did suspect an add-on called JUNQUILLA, which in a previous version (now updated) caused display problems in the 24.0 update. I thought that being able to occasionally access Local Folder Junk settings in Safe Mode might have relevance to this add-on, but I can't reproduce this in Normal Mode with Junquilla disabled. If others with this error problem aren't using this add-on, then plainly it can't be involved.

All contributions gratefully received, but I'm going to lie down in a darkened room for half-an-hour, as this is giving me a headache!